To Feel Your Feathers

Once Upon a Dice

The bundle of warmth I fell asleep with last night was no longer there when I awoke. Now that I was sharing a bed for the first time in thirty years, the empty mattress felt cold and unwelcoming. Or... had I? Was it all in my head?

My clothes and prosthetic lay where I left them last night, but the other-worldly weapon and trunk full of clothes were MIA. I sprang out of bed, a metal object clinking against the floor. I tiptoed over to the sound of the noise. It was that fucking coin again, somehow out of its bag and staring into my soul. I slid the coin across the floor using my talon with a huff, shrugging on a bathrobe before racing out the room towards the gift shop.

"Stanley! Did we-" Stan, Dipper, and Mabel's heads all whipped around to my direction as I slammed the door open, disturbing the peace with my frantic questions. Mabel's face was covered in a cheesy powder, Dipper's nose was buried in Journal 2, and Stan had been reading a newspaper. I tugged at the cross section of my robe, not expecting the kids to be relaxing with their uncle. "Ahh! I mean. Um!" My feathers stood up on end. Dumbass! Why'd you leave your room without your disguise? Now the kids-

"You can relax, Audie. I've closed the shack for the next couple of days, you don't gotta worry about customers seeing ya without a disguise." Stan brought the newspaper back to his face. "Customers? But the kids-" The sight of the vending machine opening and steam emerging from behind it cut off my panic.

Ford emerged with a cycloptopus wrapped around his left arm in a tussle. The kids rose from their positions, screaming in terror. Ford extended a commanding hand out to them. "Everyone get down! Don't let it taste human flesh!" The same hand balled up into a fist to strike the creature directly on its eye, causing it to release its hold on his arm.

The creature fell to the floor with a splat, using its tentacles to scuttle around the gift shop. "What is it?!" Dipper cried, backing up into the magazine stand. "Can we keep it?" Mabel clasped her hands together with hope as it crawled up the counter. "Kill it! Kill it!" Stan smacked it with a newspaper.

Ford was quick on his feet, following the cycloptopus like a predator as he backed it up into a corner. With nowhere else to run, it hid behind some boxes. I ran back into the shack, rummaging through the kitchen cabinets for a big enough jar. When I returned, Ford was standing by the vending machine with a shocked Dipper before him, the burnt creature being held up by a single tentacle.

"Here, put it in this." I popped the lid open, allowing Ford to place the creature inside. "Thanks, honey." I passed him the jar, receiving a quick peck on my cheek as thanks. I could see Mabel's cheery grin from the corner of my eye. "Well, call me for dinner!" He pressed a button on his gloves to close the door for him.

"Maybe next time then? Or not? Or never.." Dipper's voice trailed off, clearly bummed by whatever Ford said to him in my absence. "Aww, Dipper, don't take it so hard." Mabel sympathized with her brother, placing a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Stan however, wasn't having it. "No, do take it hard." He swatted Dipper on the top of his head with a newspaper. "Take it hard and serious. My brother is a dangerous know-it-all, and the stuff he's messing with is even worse. Do yourself a favor and stay away from him, you hear me?"

Stan's warning fell on deaf ears. "But, Grunkle Stan, all summer long I've wanted to know who the author of the journal was. Now the guy lives in our basement and I can't even talk to him." Recognizing the direction things were headed in, I decided to chime in. "Dipper, coming from one of the creatures Ford studied, Stan has a point." Dipper's eyes widened in shock. "He may be a genius, but even geniuses get themselves into trouble."

His head hung low. I could feel the desperation for answers radiate off of him. "Don't worry about what's in the basement. You belong up here with me, Mabel, and your Grauntie." Stan slapped the counter to emphasize his point. "Actually Stan, I was gonna head down there in a few. I have some questions of my own for that man." Stan's face fell, obviously annoyed with my conflicting actions. I turned towards the Employees Only sign, ready to properly dress myself.